Attorney and family vanish at sea? Mishap? Murder?

About the Book:The Blood Moon. Legend has it that whenever the Moon looms and hovers over the horizon stained in crimson, innocent victims will reap their vengeance from those whose cruelty resulted in their untimely demise. It is the night that lost souls rejoice from beyond. It is a night of terror that those bereft of conscience will realize at their moment of truth when agents of the Supreme Council converge to exact a just and deserving revenge on two men, Richard Evergreen and “Big Bill” Danko whose indifference know no bounds. With Death, these wicked men are faced with a foolish and feckless last second attempt to atone for their sins. It is now up to Gyrotupran justice as they pass from the Earth; their consequences never realized by the common man.

Jimmy Castro is a tortured soul. Scarred from war, both physically and emotionally, he is ever seeking peace and escape from his nightly terror from a fiery inferno at sea in 1966. With his family, he moves to a quaint coastal resort town, hoping to find escape at last. Serving as a jack- of -all -trades at a local marina, he is accused of negligence by a corrupt municipal administration in the disappearance of a prominent prosecuting attorney and his family that vanish from sight aboard their boat, The Donovan’s Pride. It is years later that Castro has a chance to clear his name. The Donovan’s Pride appears mysteriously on the night of The Blood Moon.

Excerpt:
Ted Minnis scurried up the creaky steps to the marina manager’s office with a mission. He would want an ironclad guarantee from Oscar Coleman the marina boss that he would be granted exclusive privileges in the event of the annual bottleneck debacle that occurred every Fourth of July in the Monnachawee Bay. His main objective was to secure the prime vantage point off the coast of Seaside, Maryland to view the fireworks display from the deck of his Sea Ray 440 with his mistress and his friends. He did not want to suffer the embarrassment of promising something to his friends that he could not deliver. Everything had to be perfect. Ever the opportunist, the forty-two year old successful hospital supply sales manager had even harangued the boatyard staff to ensure his craft, The Rough Rider, would not be bottled up at the Bay Marina as had happened in the past. After all this was the Fourth of July and as custom would have it, all boat owners desired to have the same prime viewing spot for the 9:20 PM display.

Minnis’s tantrums were notorious and his reputation definitely preceded him. Unknown to Minnis was that Coleman was not on duty this morning. Instead his assistant Earl Carruthers was in charge. Carruthers had seen these self-important types before and was not going to be intimidated. He had a unique way that he had tweaked and perfected through the years. Call it Prozac induced maturity, but basically it was indifference. If somebody like Minnis tried to provoke him coarsely with an urgent request, ‘Old Earl’ would smile benignly and grant the party their wish. Earl adopted a new mantra—If it isn’t important for me to remember then fuck them and the Ferrari they rode in on! It beat heated confrontations and the lawsuits that ensued from his bygone temper laced confrontations over trivial matters. But most important, his sixty-eight year old heart couldn’t stand such infantile altercations. Carruthers gave the jerk his way although the traffic would be light at the time that Minnis requested.

Arriving the next day in a 1990 BMW 325i convertible, Minnis and his bimbo du jour pulled sharply into a gravel parking space at the front of the marina. The black canvas top emerged from the trunk and engulfed the interior of the glossy white coupe while the windows rose electrically to seal the auto. The CD player was abruptly turned off in the middle of Bob Marley’s, “We Jammin.” The passenger door swung open delicately to reveal two perfectly manicured Gucci sandaled feet and a pair of long shapely legs. The heat and humidity coupled with the lack of any semblance of a breeze they had experienced in their ride to the marina dampened their faces. Minnis glanced at his diamond-laced Rolex and shook his head incredulously.

“Three forty-five! I told them three forty-five! Where the hell are they?”

“ They’ll be here, Ted. Relax!” his date consoled.

Octavia Bledsoe comforted the anxious sales manager by clutching his sun-burned forearm. A former Miss Baltimore runner-up, Miss Bledsoe was a stunning and accomplished African-American woman who worked as an assistant administrator at Baltimore General Hospital. Her appearance complimented her drug rehabilitated acquaintance to say the least. Minnis stood 5 foot 6 and Miss Bledsoe towered above her mate at 6 foot 1. On this day she was clad in short green khaki shorts and a maroon pullover. Her neck was adorned by a gold necklace with a solid gold heart pendant which hung above her ample cleavage. The necklace of course was a gift from her diminutive wife-cheating beau. Her black hair was styled long but on this day slicked back and kept from being swept in her face by a Baltimore Orioles baseball cap.

Minnis, bathed in British Sterling cologne and bath products, swatted away the increasing swarm of various flying insects attracted to his manly scent. At forty two years old, Minnis’s well-coiffed curly receding brown hair, tanned body, and gaudy golden chain around his chest hair encroaching neck were testament that he was still a player in his mind. Like a knight preparing for battle, Minnis would preen his looks to perfection in front of a mirror prior to exiting his abode each morning for work or play but not before uttering his conceited anticipation of better looks for tomorrow to his reflection in the vanity mirror.

Minnis shuffled to the rear of his car to retrieve the two blue and white coolers which were in the trunk. The heavier of the two fell from his smallish hands and landed with a crash on the gravel lot. He cursed silently and opened it. To his satisfaction the Chivas Regal, Grey Goose, Jim Beam and the Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay were intact. He had used an old beach towel to cushion the spirits in the cooler while in transit along with plastic cups, plastic plates and plastic cutlery purchased at a gasoline station convenience store with his platinum credit card. The other cooler contained cold fried chicken, chilled steamed shrimp, potato salad and rolls along with ice he bought at a grocery store that morning before he picked up Miss Bledsoe.…